Celebrities get arty for charity

Dawn Renton

A host of famous faces have offered their artistic skills to raise vital funds for breast cancer research.

Scottish tennis stars, Andy and Jamie Murray along with their Davis Cup teammate Dominic Inglot, have taken time off from the court to create a distinctive-looking doodle for Art for Cure in aid of Breast Cancer Now, the UK’s leading breast cancer research charity.

The one-of-a-kind illustration, which will be auctioned live online from today (Monday, April 18) here the sales room depicts the team celebrating their Davis Cup victory for Great Britain.

Art for Cure, which was the brainchild of art lovers Belinda Gray and Sally Ball, from East Anglia, is a contemporary art and sculpture show and online auction. This year’s event follows in the footsteps of its remarkable success in 2014 where it raised £100,000 for breast cancer charities. Best friends Belinda and Sally set up Art for Cure after both being diagnosed with breast cancer in the last four years.

As part of this year’s event, the “Art for Cure – Make your Mark” campaign managed to recruit a host of celebrities to contribute their own artwork. As well as the Davis Cup champions, Ed Sheeran, Elizabeth Hurley, Dominic West, Jim Broadbent, Dame Judi Dench, Joanna Lumley, Dame Joan Collins, Delia Smith, Yotam Ottolenghi and Gaby Roslin and many more have also drawn doodles, sketches and masterpieces that will be auctioned online.

Sally said: “Art for Cure means an incredible amount to us, it’s not just an exhibition – it’s a show which brings together so much talent from across the country and lets the community be part of it. Art is a passion for so many, and raising funds to help beat breast cancer is a passion for us, so bringing the two together is the perfect way to help make a real difference.”

Belinda said: “Having experienced breast cancer myself, and seeing my dear friend Sally go through it, I can’t stress how important it is that we help to fund research into this disease and make sure that future generations don’t have to experience what we have.”

Mary Allison, director for Scotland at Breast Cancer Now, added: “We are so glad to see this incredible event back as an even bigger and better exhibition. Over 4,600 women are diagnosed with breast cancer and around 1,000 people die from the disease in Scotland each year. Art for Cure will contribute to Breast Cancer Now’s life-saving research and we are so grateful that Belinda and Sally chose to support us for their second Art for Cure instalment.”